


I Like You a Latte

by Penstrokes_and_Daydreams



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: AU Yeah August 2020, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Cafe AU, Crush, F/M, Generic Inquisitor - Freeform, One-Shot, Pining, Unnamed Trevelyan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:14:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25663447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penstrokes_and_Daydreams/pseuds/Penstrokes_and_Daydreams
Summary: In which Cullen pines after the woman he sees in the coffee shop they both frequent.
Relationships: Cullen Rutherford/Female Trevelyan, Female Inquisitor/Cullen Rutherford
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	I Like You a Latte

**Author's Note:**

> No apologies for the title, it was that or a lyric from Begin Again.

She couldn’t be real. She was a spirit, perhaps, or a vision. She was enchanting: all shining eyes and flyaway hair. The way she nibbled on the tip of her pen while she studied, the sound of her laugh, they were embedded into his brain. He felt so guilty for watching her like that, day by day from the table near the window to the table in the back corner.

She always seemed content, rather she was alone with her textbooks or her laptop, or surrounded by friends. Cullen was smitten, he’d admit it. His day always seemed better when he saw her. For a while he even entertained fantasies of going over to talk to her, asking about her day, her degree. Maybe one day he’d even invite her to lunch or to dinner. In his fantasies she always gave him that shining smile and agreed. In time, he could see them sitting together, her head on his shoulder as she talked.

But then that crumbled before his eyes. She walked in one morning leaned against another man, a man nothing at all like Cullen. This stranger was outgoing and effusive, with carefully done hair and dark eyes. He was stylish and modern. She leaned into him when she laughed and he touched her often. When he had to leave he kissed her hand to say goodbye.  
Cullen was none of the things that man was: he was quiet, reserved, simple. If that was her type he’d never stood a chance to begin with. When Leliana asked over lunch one day for the millionth time if he’d worked up the courage to speak to her, he’d told her the story.

She’d rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone. Within seconds she’d pulled up a profile picture of the man he’d seen. The screen was covered in pictures of the two of them together eating, dancing, watching movies on the couch. It cut him to the core. Leliana clicked on one in particular of her kissing his cheek and scrolled to the hashtags at the bottom.  
“They’re cousins and roommates.” The caption was about international cousin’s day. Leliana pulled the phone away, scrolled again, changed the filters; this time the pictures were of the cousin and another man. She didn’t say anything about that, it spoke for itself.

“Talk to her, Cullen, or one day she will have someone else.”

He took her advice.

Two days later, when Josephine left her to go get another muffin, he sat down across from her.

“Oh, good morning, Cullen.”

“Good morning. I was wondering… would you like to get food with me? Here, if you want. Or not, if you want to go somewhere else. Together.”

She laughed, a soft, happy tone, “I thought you’d never ask.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've never kissed my cousins before in my life, but I assume some people do? We are not a close family nor are we physically affectionate. Mostly we just eat food together.  
> How do indents even work on this site???


End file.
